Halo: After Dawn
by TheCod3ster
Summary: As the confused and disoriented Spartan B-347 wakes up after a devastating crash, he wonders when, where, and why he was where he was. After several brief moments of realization, he remembers the events that took place before. He then goes on, trying to find survivors and escape the unexplored "planet".


**Unknown Date**

**Unknown Location**

As the sounds of fire filled my ears, and the echoes of cries bobbing within my head, silence was nowhere to be found. Slowly, I opened my eyes behind my broken visor, HUD warnings flashing crazily. After twenty minutes or so, I was finally able to gain most of my senses, allowing me to slowly stand up to see what has caused this chaos.

_Where am I? _I thought to myself as I scanned the environment around me.

As my helmet was of no use anymore, I decided to remove it, as it was a mere distraction. Once taken off, the cool air sprayed through my once curly hair. Clouds of grey covered what appeared to be snowy mountains. Ash rained down, making black snow beneath my very feet. As my memory caught up to me, I remembered everything on what happened in the events before,

**Unknown, 2564**

**Spirit of Fire**

*_Attention all personnel! Attention all personnel! Planetary orbit achieved, prepare emergency landing! Evacuate to pods immediately!* _the intercom blasted. *_Spartan-B347, report to command bridge immediately!*_

As I sprinted down the halls, I could see the panic of marines and scientists racing to the evacuation pods. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally make it to the command bridge, rushing through without hesitation. Inside were Captain James Cutter, Professor Ellen Anders, along with Spartans Jerome-092, Alice-130, and Douglas-042.

"Spartan B-347, it's about time you made it." Exclaimed the onboard AI Serina.

"It wasn't exactly the most pleasant awakening, for your information."

"Oh poor guy. He must've gone through a lot." Jerome mockingly said.

"Yeah, like you did anything. You were up here the whole time instead of being on the front lines, like us." Douglas exclaimed.

"Shut up, both of you! I bet I can take on a Covenant supercarrier all by myself, you pricks!"

"You wanna go, lil' bitch? You're so useless that you were kept on the ship for "Protection", while we were put on the front lines!"

"Break it up! All of you!" Alice yelled.

"Either way you don't need to fight any more Covenant supercarriers." Serina said.

Everybody in the room was silent and bewildered at what she said. Not even Cutter knew what she was talking about.

"The Covenant/Human war ended in 2552. It appears that Petty-Officer Spartan-117 killed the Prophet of Truth."

"What about the other two prophets?" Cutter asked.

"Well the Prophet of Regret was slain by the _Master Chief _on installation 05. Prophet of Mercy, on the other hand, was killed by a flood form on High Charity."

Anders turned from the observation deck when she heard this. "A little off topic right now. How are you still here? AI's deteriorate after 7 years. How are you still intact?

"I was put into hibernation for 33 years until this event woke me up." Serina replied. "You see, when an AI goes into hibernation, they will be put to "Rest", and like you humans go to sleep, until something urgent occurs. Then they are woken from their sleep."

Out of nowhere, a loud crash of scraping metal was heard. Everybody was knocked off their feet besides the Spartans.

"Serina. We need to find a way to either get off this ship or to land it! Find me any spare pods around the ship that aren't occupied!" Cutter said. He then looked at me. "If all else fails, you need to grab Serina's AI chip and take her off this ship. We can't lose her!"

"Affirmative, Sir." I said.

Anders gasped at what appeared in front of her. "You might want to see this." She exclaimed to everyone else in the room.

As they neared the deck, they gasped at what they saw in front of them.

"Ah, a Forerunner shield world. Just like the one we had encountered earlier."

"We need more intel Serina! We don't have a lot of time!" Anders panicked.

"I'm still gathering as much intel as I can. Reading this much information takes ti-"

She was cut off right after a sudden shake from the ship.

_Shit. The power's off. This is great._

"We need to get off of this death trap!" Anders exclaimed

I suddenly said, "Sir, we Spartans will try to land this ship. Go to the remaining pods and get to the surface safely."  
"It's been a pleasure, Sir" The other three Spartans said.

"Remember your mission Spartan. Get Serina off this ship! With or without the Covenant, we need her!" He then saluted, and rushed out with Anders.

I pulled out the AI chip from the holographic table. I then hesitantly inserted it into the neural implant within my helmet. Because of my lack of field duty, I was never given an AI, although I'm able to hold one. Nothing happened.

"Alright, if we are all going to have to get off this ship alive, we need to work together." Alice said.

_Let's see how that goes with those douchebags._

"Fine." Jerome said, "But if comes down to it, I'm leaving him to die up here."

"Remember, he's carrying Serina. If we lose him, we lose her. So keep him alive!"

"Whatever."

"Alright. We need to get to the escape pods at the back of the ship. On my mark we sprint straight there alright?" Alice ordered. "I'm putting the location on your HUD's."

Us three nodded at her and got ready to run. Whatever was going to happen, it's going to happen quick and it won't be pleasant.

"3… 2… 1… _MARK_!"

I broke the metallic door down and sprinted in front of the other Spartans. On my radar, they weren't far behind, so I knew I didn't have to slow down. Corridor after corridor we sprinted, seeming like an endless maze, when out of nowhere, a sign read "_Escape Pod Level: 1B_"

"Finally, we're here. It felt like hours back ther-:"

Douglas was cut off the sound of metal getting torn apart, and the sight of sparks flying.

Everything turned dark.

As I drifted through nothingness, it was quiet.

_Too quiet._

From the eternal silence arose a voice of a person that sounded in my head.

"_When you hit the ground, don't land on your helmet, okay?"_


End file.
